Octavia E. Butler - Earthseed, Book 1 -… [94]

Well, we’re barely a nation at all anymore, but I’m glad we’re still in space. We have to be going some place other than down the toilet. — , Octavia E. Butler - Earthseed, Book 1 -…, 94

Note

The chapter’s thesis compressed into a scatological shrug — ‘barely a nation at all’ concedes the father’s point in four words, then pivots on ‘but’ to keep the hope alive. ‘Some place other than down the toilet’ makes uplift and despair use the same plumbing.